Education

• Ph.D. Geography. University of Minnesota, 2012
• M.A. Urban Planning. UCLA, 2005
• B.A. Literature. University of California, Santa Cruz, 2001
• A.A.S. Los Angeles Valley College, 1998

Courses Taught

• URBS 340b - Qualitative Urban Research Methods
• URBS 380 - Los Angeles: past, present, future

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Bloch, S. and E.W. Soja (under preparation, 2013). “The Role of Graffiti Writers in the Occupy Movement in Los Angeles.”
• Bloch, S. (under preparation, 2013). “Painting, Bombing, and Buffing the Olympic Arts Festival Freeway Murals.”
• Bloch, S. (under review, 2013). “Waste Regimes and the Cultural Economy of Los Angeles.” City.
• Bloch, S. (2012). “From The Pueblo to the Sea: exploring Los Angeles via Sunset Boulevard. Association of American Geographers Newsletter, July/August.
• Bloch, S. (2012). “Considering the Photography of Leonard Nadel.” Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 74.
• Bloch, S. (2012). “The Illicit Face of Wall Space: graffiti-murals on the Sunset Boulevard retaining walls in Los Angeles.” Radical History Review, 113.


• Conference Proceedings:
• “Breaking Bad and fictionalized meth production: following-the-thing on screen.” Association of American Geographers Conference: Session: Media Geography. Los Angeles, CA, April 2013.
• “Painting, Bombing and Buffing L.A.'s Freeway Walls: the birth, life and slow death of the Olympic Festival murals, 1983-2012.” LA Speaks and Friends of the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection Speakers Series, May 2012.
• “Images of Slum Living and Progressive Communities in 1950s Los Angeles: The Photography of Leonard Nadel.” Association of Pacific Coast Geographers conference, San Francisco, CA., October 2011.
• “Writing on the Walls: Key moments in the social and aesthetic history of the Sunset retainer walls, 1940-2010." Doctoral Dissertation Fellows Speaker Series, University of Minnesota, Graduate School. October, 2010.
• "Writing on the Walls: key moments in the social and aesthetic history of the Sunset retainer walls, 1940-2010." AAG conference, Session: Re-painting Urban Space, organized by S. Lucas and R. Cybriwsky. Washington D.C., April 2010.
• “’Fight Club’ and the Political Economy of Props.” Association of American Geographers conference. Session: Geographies of Media, organized by J. Craine, J. Dittmer, and C. Lukinbeal. Las Vegas, NV, March 2009.
• “‘Fight Club’ and the Political Economy of Property” (w/George Henderson). Association of Pacific Coast Geographers conference. Fairbanks, AK., October 2008.
• “Strange Bedfellows in the Aestheticization of Space: Graffiti writers, business owners, and public policy makers.” Association of American Geographers conference. Session: Experiencing Urban Aesthetics I : Theorizing encounters in designed urban spaces, organized by M. Degen and G. Rose. Boston, MA, March 2008.
• "The ‘Prop’ Industry: Locations and collections of a film industry service provider." Association of American Geographers conference. Session: New Economic Geographies. San Francisco, CA, April 2007.
• “Setting the Scene: Negotiating, improvising, and performing the division-of-labor within the motion picture industry’s set-dressers union.” Coffee Hour Speakers Series, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, September 2007.
• "Marking Space: Graffiti writers and the production of place.” Interdisciplinarity and Social Justice conference, Pitzer College, CA, February 2005.
• 
  

Research and Interests

Socio-Spatial and Subcultural Theory, Graffiti, Murals, and Street Art, Qualitative Urban Research Methods, American Planning Histories, Nature/Society of Los Angeles.